Check-in Check-out Processes Get Revamped at Food Distribution Company

Food distribution is extremely time-sensitive, so it’s imperative that companies look for ways to increase efficiency while decreasing costs.

Cheny Brothers, Inc., a leading food distributor with locations throughout Florida, was able to achieve this by improving the way their RF equipment was controlled. Amidst their 525,000 square foot facility, there were a lot of barcode scanners floating around—sometimes, they’d even wind up in the trash, or take days to track down.

It was time for a change, so Robert Falcioni, operations manager, purchased 100 voice-enabled scanners and headsets and was able to assign one per operator. In addition, he invested in 25 two-way radios. However, these significant investments needed protection.

In the past, Cheney Brothers used a locked equipment room with an RF technician that would organize all of the devices and verify their IDs. In order to check-out the equipment, operators would have to line up and sign a daily log. Following their shift, another line would be formed for check-in. This process proved to be time consuming, inefficient, and inaccurate.

In search of a better solution, Falconi began to look into lockers that would be able to organize, store, and track equipment. After much research, he chose the Apex Axcess 6018 18-door automated locker system. This system would allow the Cheney Brothers to manage each and every scanner and radio in a specific compartment that’s assigned to a specific operator.

With the Apex Axcess 6018, Falcioni created new RF room where operators could enter through a door at one end, go to their assigned locker, enter credentials, check-in or out a device, then exit out of another door on the other side of the room. Each time an employee would check-in or out a device, it’s recorded with Trajectory Cloud, providing complete visibility to see what time a device was checked out who has it and when it’s due. Once returned, the devices are docked in their chargers so they’re always ready for the next shift!

The Cheney Brothers were able to save 125 hours a week and $143,000 in wage savings for operators and 15 hours a week and $28,080 in wage savings for RF technicians, totaling $171,080 in annual savings.